saving money while dining

[tammyandtommy]

Ok so a friend of mine is going to WDW in a week, and long story short they paid for the trip but only have about 2000-2500 for 6 people including souvenirs, and clues on how to save money for them? I know you all have great ideas!

 

[bluejasmine]

Well bringing breakfast and eatting it in the room for starters..Pop tarts, cereal, bagels (you can bring a toaster) getting water when your thirsty from any CS its FREE and they give you a big cup of ice water per person.
Do all CS meals, alot of the meals can be split between people like the chicken wrap at Pecos Bills as an example. Small kids buy an adult meal and split between them most times thats cheaper than buying two kids meals.
Buy your souveniers from DTD alot of times the prices will be a bit lower.

 

[kidd_freeper]

We are going to WDW in July. Two weeks for 6 people (3 adults, 3 young kids) and we are planning on 6 days in the parks. My parents will also be there for some of our trip. Our food budget is about $2000 for the whole 2 weeks.

We estimate the cost of our meals as follows:

2 nice sit down park meals for 8 people ($415 total)
1 meal at ESPN Club for 6 people ($90)
7 counter service meals at the parks for 6 people ($460 total)
6 sit down meals offsite (Friendlys-type quality) for 6 people ($325 total)
5 counter service meals offsite for 6 people ($150 total)
All 13 breakfasts and 7 lunches eating in room grocery-store food ($360 total)
About $200 for park snacks

 

[loveysbydesign]

#1 that saved us at least $10.00 at every counter service meal is to bring Kool-Aid singles or crystal lite or country time lemonade! Whenever we ordered we'd also ask for 4 large cups of ice water and then mix up the drinks at our table. My kids LOVED this!!!

 

[baileybelle]

This link has lots of info http://www.mousesavers.com/meals.html

 

[4theloveofdisney]

1) Eat breakfast in your room. It's easy, it saves time and money. If they are driving, pack a small cooler or stop for milk, juice, cereal, bagels, cheese, fruit, pop tarts or granola bars, instant oatmeal, etc. If flying, have the limo driver make a stop or have groceries delivered. At the very least just buy milk and cereal or a box of donuts or a fruit and cheese platter from the food court instead of the full breakfasts that will run you $5-$6 a person. Oatmeal is also inexpensive.

2) Share meals. Look at the portions before you buy. DH and I share many things because in many places, the portions are very big, fries are plentiful as well. Sometimes I get a kids meal for myself as well because I know I won't eat an entire adult portion.

3) Order pizza. It's a cheap meal for everyone.

4) Eat at McD's in DD.

5) Schedule your meals. If you eat a big late lunch, a small counter service dinner should be all you need. Or eat a light lunch and a big early dinner.

6) Bring/buy your own snacks. You'll be less tempted to buy every Mickey Bar you see!

7) Buy bottled water and bring it with you. This way you aren't purchasing soda on every corner.

8) Look on mousesavers.com for other ideas. They have some tips like order a double cheeseburger and then order an extra bun. I think I read that the bun only costs .30 cents or something like that and then you just take one of the patties from the double cheeseburger and voila, you have two cheeseburgers. You will have to split fries but there are plenty.

9) Lastly, write out a budget and decided how much you can spend ahead of time. On trips where money is tight, that is what I do. This way, you won't overspend and be short at the end of the trip. I would rather budget wisely and be able to splurge at the end of my vacation.

HTH!

 

[kcashner]

Most of the biggies have already been covered. Breakfast at the hotel. Depending on what you want to eat, bring a couple of boxes of cereal with you and buy 1/2 gallon of milk. You can also get packages of bagels, loaves of bread, boxes of donuts, etc. at the marketplace area of the resorts.

If you are not staying on property (which probably means you have a car), eat at WDW as little as possible.

Bring snacks--granola bars, fruit roll ups, beef jerky, etc.

Any place that serves fountain drinks will give you a cup of ice and/or ice water free. Drink that or bring some crystal lite/kool aid to add for flavoring.

At a WDW resort, consider the mug plan ($12, all the refills you can drink at the resort for the length of your stay).